About Us

Foundational ideas that support our work

People with personality disorders can, and do, recover and lead satisfying lives

Our clinical experience has shown that people with BPD can and do recover and lead a fulfilling life. This is supported by research which indicates that over the long-term people with BPD who receive treatment are likely to achieve remission from BPD.

Personality disorders are everyone’s business

While our role is to offer specialist treatment to people with multiple needs, unfortunately our limited resources mean that we are able to only offer face-to-face treatment to a small number of people. However, we lead the way in treating personality disorders by offering training and support to all Victorian area mental health services, so they can provide evidence based support and treatment for people with a personality disorder. We also run workshops for families and carers, to enable these people to respond effectively to the needs of those with personality disorders.

Excellent treatments are available external to Spectrum for people diagnosed with personality disorders. Treatment can be obtained through a variety of practitioners, including suitably-trained psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists, credentialed nurses, and other allied health professionals, through both public and private mental health services. We can provide advice regarding clinicians or services available in Victoria for people with BPD and/or those concerned about someone with a possible or confirmed diagnosis of BPD.

We use our expertise to provide specialist treatment

We specialise in treating people with personality disorders, especially BPD. This expertise includes working with people who have complex care needs, managing significant clinical risk, and offering treatment using several evidence-based approaches. We can offer specialist treatment to a small number of people who are generally referred by a public mental health service.

We work to develop services for people with BPD in primary care settings

Primary health care refers to services delivered by GPs, nurses, allied health providers, Aboriginal health practitioners and pharmacists, within both the public and private sectors. We are currently piloting the Intensive Group Treatment Program, a 10-week, 80-hour program for clients referred by their treating health professional and community agencies. These clients are also eligible to seek other Spectrum services, such as second opinions and psychiatric assessments.

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